The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 265 Villainous Boss Nigel (14) - The Third Prince and Instant Coffee "Thank you, brother! Thanks to you telling me about that shop, I got some good knives!" "Knives? That shop sold weapons too?" "Of course! And they're not just any knives! This thing called carbon steel here has incredible hardness, and this ceramic one supposedly never rusts. But my favorite among them is this one with the rose pattern engraved on it. It can slice through bones without any resistance!" "It's certainly impressive craftsmanship. ...But strictly speaking, isn't that last one more like a saw?" "What does it matter! As long as it cuts well, that's all that counts!" "Thank you, Princess Fariza. When I brought the Tumbler you graciously gave me to the last meeting, everyone was so envious they didn't know what to do." "The Thermos is really great too! In the past, when I went somewhere far, I always had to drink lukewarm water unless I brought a mage along, but nowadays I can drink ice-cold water, so it feels like my throat is completely refreshed!" "Hehehe, everyone's making such a big fuss. To me, they're not that amazing." The palace has been noisy lately. And he was the only one left out. Third Prince Omard Bahara was thoroughly displeased by this. Distorting his face that still hadn't shed its boyish features, Omard grumbled. "Everyone's gone crazy. What's so amazing about some mere merchant's goods that they're making such a fuss." In that voice that seemed to belittle the other party, there was no small amount of jealousy toward Nigel mixed in. And it was understandable, since Omard thought he had never once received such sincere admiration from anyone in his entire life. His eldest brother Zarka inherited the bearing of a great leader and was skilled at domestic affairs and handling people. His second brother Kushan was manly and excellent in martial arts, earning the admiration of many warriors. But Omard was neither. He was clumsy at both domestic affairs and martial arts, and since there was quite an age gap between him and his two older brothers, people didn't hold high expectations for him. If he wasn't going to be expected of anyway, there might have been the path of being loved as a harmless youngest child. But unfortunately, not long after Omard was born, his younger sister Fariza was born, so he ended up losing even the position of being the youngest. A burden that was neither this nor that. A good-for-nothing who no one had expectations for. Regardless of what the actual situation was, from Omard's perspective who thought of himself this way, the merchant named Nigel who seemed to be receiving all his family's attention and favor was truly an unpleasant existence. "But now that I think about it, I'm getting angry. Why does he offer something to all the other family members while leaving only me out? Is even a mere merchant ignoring me now?" Strictly speaking, Nigel had only offered bribes to Fariza and King Bahram, and the two brothers had just bought things on their own, but for Omard whose mood had already turned sour, it didn't matter either way. "I need to give him a piece of my mind." Omard was about to order his servants to drag that merchant before him immediately, but hesitated for a moment. Because his father had said not to mess with that guy, and physically dragging him over was quite intimidating. "Hide that I'm a prince and go as an ordinary customer... Hmm, no. If he's a merchant, he wouldn't be rude even to ordinary customers." But if he acted like a problem customer, even if Nigel was rude, the excuse would be on Omard's side, making it difficult to hold him accountable. Omard tried hard to think of various ways to get back at Nigel somehow, but none of them seemed like the perfect 'this is it!' solution. After groaning and rolling around on his bed for quite a while. It was only at dawn when others were deep in dreamland that Omard finally came up with an answer. "That's it! Infiltration! If I infiltrate as an employee and extract inside information, it'll definitely be a huge advantage!" ...Well, a plan thought up by an adolescent kid in the dawn excitement wasn't exactly sound, but anyway Omard was overflowing with enthusiasm. He didn't even sleep properly and went straight to the trading company. "You want to apply to our trading company?" "Yes! I heard that you accept talented people who can write and are skilled in accounting." "That's true, but... Well, come in for now." Fortunately, infiltrating Nigel's trading company wasn't too difficult. Initially, Nigel's shop had only used slaves as employees, but after it grew in scale and took on the name of a trading company, there were limits to recruiting staff using only that method. Particularly problematic were tasks requiring specialized knowledge like accounting. The slaves Kasim and Rainer, who were recruited relatively early on, had sufficient capabilities and knowledge as former accountants, but expecting the same abilities from all slaves was somewhat unreasonable. The proportion of slaves who couldn't even read was overwhelming. Even though Omard thought he had no outstanding abilities, the education he received as a prince and the refinement he had built up were no mere facade. After completing light disguise and identity forgery, Omard, who successfully got hired without much difficulty, thought to himself. 'Hah. How utterly sloppy. At this rate, extracting their techniques will be quick.' Toward Omard who was wearing a subtle smile, other successful applicants nearby approached him. "Phew, I was really nervous but it seems I somehow succeeded. Ah, I'm called Marek. Please treat me well from now on." "I'm called Bakera. Let's work hard together." Toward them who were greeting him, Omard spoke the alias he had decided on beforehand. "I'm Mato. I hope we get along well with each other." *** "Store displays and warehouse organization? Weren't we hired as accountants?" "It's Master's, I mean President Nigel's policy. Rather than just confining employees to offices unconditionally, he wants them to first experience how the trading company operates overall before sending them to their assigned departments." "Even so, making us do this kind of physical labor..." "If you really don't like it, you can quit even now. You're still interns after all." How dare they make me, a prince, do the kind of work only laborers would do!! Omard was inwardly furious, but he couldn't dare storm out. Since he was the one who had hidden his princely identity and entered as an employee, he couldn't really complain to anyone, and if he quit here, his original purpose of extracting internal techniques would go down the drain. Marek and Bakera also looked somewhat displeased, but the guide employee was clearly showing the attitude of 'there are plenty of others who can work besides you!' so there was no other choice. "Intern! Stop blocking the way there and move aside!!" "Intern! Did you come here to play? Don't just stand there gawking and find something to do!" "Hey! Intern! Who told you to do this on your own!! If you don't know, ask while you do it!" ─What the hell rhythm do you want me to follow, you bastards!! And this workplace life he was experiencing for the first time in his life was truly something that the word 'shit' perfectly described. When he acted according to A's instructions, B would throw a fit, and when he corrected his actions to match B's demands, A would again ask why he was doing that, and when he mentioned B's name, they'd make disgusted faces but wouldn't say anything to each other. If he didn't do something because he didn't know what he'd never been taught, he'd get cursed at, if he tried to figure it out and do it himself, he'd get cursed at for acting on his own, and if he said he hadn't learned it, he'd get cursed at for what he'd been doing all this time without learning even that. Should I kill them? Since warehouse and logistics management were so grueling, he thought selling things at the store displays would be better, but this was hell in its own way. "What are you looking at? Isn't this put here for tasting?" "I didn't say anything, sir." "The way you look and your tone are already full of complaints!! Are you giving me dirty looks just because I ate some samples!? Get the manager!!" Someone who tried to make a meal out of the food put out for sampling, then got embarrassed by himself and raised his voice in anger for no reason. "I want to return this." "...Uh, sir. The contents are empty?" "I just tasted it a little but all the contents were spoiled." "Where are the spoiled contents?" "I threw them all away. Anyway, just give me a refund." "?" Someone practicing creative economics by eating about 90% of the canned contents, then bringing the remaining 10% to demand a refund. "Sir. Please show me your bag for a moment." "What? Are you suspecting me now? Just because business is going well, you're treating customers like thieves!?" "I'm sorry. But please just show me for a moment. ...Sir, what's this?" "Uh, that, I, I forgot! Oh my, I put it in here intending to pay but just forgot for a moment!" Someone who, even after being caught red-handed stealing, stubbornly insists it wasn't intentional but a mistake. "You there. Come here for a moment." "W-wait! What are you guys, I'm a customer─ Ahhh! Ahhh! Help me! I was wrong! Ahhh!!" "If you caused a disturbance knowing this shop receives the Princess's patronage, that's an insult, and if you didn't know, you should learn now. With a club." At least it was fortunate that the dedicated security forces that Princess Fariza had assigned could physically restrain such problem customers. Omard was grateful for the first time in his life that his nasty-tempered younger sister had such powerful influence. While thinking he wanted to quit this job immediately, the stubbornness of not being able to just run away empty-handed after going this far held Omard back. "Hehe, you all look half-dead. Here, have a cup each. It'll give you some energy." After finishing another day of war-like work and collapsing exhausted in the break room, a man handed warm drinks and snacks to Omard and his colleagues. Kasim. A person who, along with Rainer, a fellow slave hired at the same time, was currently handling the core of the trading company's accounting, and who would also become Omard's direct supervisor after the internship period ended. Omard bowed his head. "Thank you, Mr. Kasim." "Why thank me for something like this. It's something employees can freely take and drink anyway." As he said this, where Kasim casually pointed with his chin, stick-like things wrapped in golden plastic packaging filled a basket. Next to it, square-shaped snacks similarly wrapped in plastic packaging were piled high, and the break room employees could freely take and eat them without any restrictions. Omard looked at the paper cup in his hand and its contents. 'What did they call it, instant coffee?' Coffee was the term used within Nigel's trading company to refer to Qahwa. It supposedly originated from Nigel occasionally calling Qahwa "coffee," but in Omar's view, this instant coffee and the Qahwa he knew could practically be considered different things. 'The Qahwa I used to drink in the palace wasn't this sweet.' It definitely had plenty of sugar in it. No, from the moment you tore open the stick, Qahwa powder and sugar flowed out together, so you couldn't help but know. However, no matter how much sugar Omar poured into the Qahwa he used to drink in the palace, he couldn't reproduce the taste of this instant coffee. Not only Qahwa and sugar, but dairy products and such would need to be mixed, and the proportions would need to be precisely matched to achieve exactly this taste. It was also amazing that every instant coffee he drank had consistently the same taste. That meant they maintained those perfect proportions accurately every time. The snacks called crackers that he ate along with it were also excellent. The surface of the thin, hard-baked snacks had transparent grain-like things on them, and they were salty and savory yet highly addictive, with the power to make you keep eating them mindlessly. It was also strange how after finishing a set of instant coffee in a paper cup and a packet of crackers, vitality returned to his body that had been so exhausted he felt like he couldn't move at all. At that moment, Marek and Bakera who were nearby asked. "By the way, where on earth are these products made?" "To produce such high-quality products, they'd need to pay attention to raw material supply in various ways." That's certainly true. Omard blankly agreed. He had gone around various places in this trading company doing warehouse organization and selling goods, but he had only taken things from the warehouse; he had never once seen how the warehouse was actually stocked with goods. When he looked with curiosity, Kasim answered with an unreadable expression. "You don't need to worry about that. No, more precisely, you shouldn't be interested in it." "What? Shouldn't an accountant have a precise grasp of all the goods coming in and out of the trading company? How can you tell us not to worry about the products?" "That would be true for an ordinary trading company. But this trading company is a place filled only with our master's miracles and grace, so you need to abandon common sense. Understand? Never try to investigate or analyze the origin of the goods. This is an iron rule." Marek and Bakera didn't seem particularly convinced, but they nodded their heads for now. Omard also felt curious, but since his current interests lay elsewhere, he didn't focus on it too much. 'This instant coffee and crackers. If I could somehow reproduce the proportions, I could probably make them in the palace too...' Kasim, who had been watching Omard intently tasting the crackers and coffee with satisfaction, told them to rest comfortably and turned away. No one there realized that Kasim's eyes had turned extremely cold. And a week later. It was revealed that Marek and Bakera's true identities were spies trying to leak the trading company's secrets, and their names quietly disappeared from the trading company roster. Omard felt chills running down his spine and breathed a sigh of relief that he fortunately hadn't been caught. *** "Master. Is it alright to leave this employee Mato, I mean Omard, alone?" "It's fine since his family requested field training. And anyway, all the drinks I've been pushing here didn't sell, so instant coffee probably won't sell either. The key is ultimately the plastic packaging and convenience, so it doesn't matter if the manufacturing method leaks out." (E/N: WHAT! Coffee not selling? What is of heresy is going on here?) "I think that one will sell though..." "What?" "Nothing! If that's your judgment, Master!"